Tamika Thomas, an African American lady from Las Vegas, Nevada, lost her baby after her local pharmacy erroneously gave her abortion drugs instead of the fertility prescription she required.
After having her Fallopian tubes removed in 2019, Thomas, a mother of four, decided to in vitro fertilization (IVF). She and her husband had paid for the pricey treatment out of pocket because insurance would not cover it.
After having two embryos transferred, she went to her local CVS pharmacy in North Los Angeles to get “supplements to make our bodies think it’s pregnant,” she told 8 News Now.
However, instead of the right medicine, she was apparently given Misoprostol, which is used for “medication abortion.”
Thomas filed a complaint with the Nevada State Board of drugstore, which determined that the drugstore had made numerous mistakes. They guessed the prescription since they couldn’t see the doctor’s handwriting rather than asking the doctor for clarification.
Worse, another pharmacist failed to follow protocol by not explaining to Thomas what to expect with Misoprostol, which would have alerted them to the error.
During the pharmacy board hearing, one of the pharmacists mentioned CVS cuts, which had left them exhausted while juggling multiple jobs.
The pharmacy’s license was not revoked, and it was simply fined $10,000, the maximum amount allowed by law for vicarious liability for the pharmacists’ errors. Tamika was unable to sue the pharmacy since the statute of limitations had expired when the incident occurred in 2019.
CVS made an apology and underlined their commitment to patient safety in response. However, Tamika’s enormous loss could not be undone by an apology.
“I understand that people make mistakes,” Thomas said at the hearing. “But that mistake took something from me.”
